














^O 





'-* <* ♦, -^ 





^^ '».»• A <^ ♦'TV.' jy 9^ '»•** ,0- < 




<* *'T7S» .6^ ^3^ '».»* A <* ♦'T7i« -0^ ^: 



**o< 






• H O 





.0 









4* 







^.«* 






THE 



HISTORY OF SLAVERY, 



AND MEANS 



OF ELEVATING THE AFRICAN RACE. 



A DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



VERMONT COLONIZATION SOCIETY, 



AT 



MONTPELIER, Oct. 15, 1840. 

BY J. K. CONVERSE, 

Pastor of the First Congregational Church, Burlington, Vt. 



< 




BURLINGTON: 

CHAUNCEY GOODRICH. 
K' 1840. 






Extract from the minutes of the Annual meeting of the Vermont Colo- 
nization Society, held in the Brick Church in Montpelier, Oct. 15, 1340. 

•'Voted, That the thanks of this Society be presented to the Rev. 
J. K. Converse, for the very interesting discourse delivered by him thi» 
evening; — and that a copy of the same be requested for publication." 



DISCOURSE. 



The Bible has predicted it, and it is the expectation of 
all christians that ' the knowledo;e of God shall ere long cover 
this earth as the waters cover the sea.' The Bible has pre- 
dicted it, and it is also the expectation of all christians, that 
a day is coming in the progress of this world's history, when 
all the nations and individuals of our race shall feel the pow- 
er and rejoice in the blessings of the gospel of Christ ; — 
when the ignorance and fears and cruelties of idolatry shall 
be emptied out of the hearts of men, and the knowledge 
and hopes and charities of the gospel shall come in and take 
their place, — when all war and oppression and slavery shall 
be abolished, and Africa shall remember and turn unto the 
Lord, ^aiid all the kindreds of the nations shall worship be- 
fore Him.' Ps. XXII, 27. 

When we fix our tlioughts on this mighty change and con- 
template it as a great fact infallibly to be realized, we are ir- 
resistibly led to ask, How is this change to be effected ? By 
what power? Through what means? Where is the power 
that is to ' break every yoke,' set free every slave, disenthral 
every mind and fill the earth with the knowledge of the 
Lord ? Where is the power that is to demolish every pagan 
temple, grind to dust every idol, abolish all corruptions and 
take down the great fabric of human society and build it up 
anew on the princi[>les of holiness ? — It is evident that to 
produce these desirable changes will require the prolonged 
exertion of some mighty power ; where shall we find an 
agency adequate to such eflfects ? 

In answer to ihese inquiries, I remark, that in strict lan- 
guage there is but one kind of power in the universe, and 
that is the power of mind. We are accustomed however to 
speak of different kinds of power according to the form in 
which it is exerted, or according to the agent by whom it is 



exerted. Thus we talk of intellectual power, of moral pow- 
er and of natural power, or force. 

In the resources and deductions of philosophy, (whether 
true or false) there is power of a certain kind, which has 
awakened into violent temporary action, millions of minds ; 
which has in former ages kindled the most bitter strifes and 
involved whole nations in blood. 

In the lightnings and thunders of heaven there is power 
of another kind. The infant timnderbolt now sleeping in 
yonder cloud, needs but the application of a spark to enable 
it to rend and shake the solid earth. 

In the combined movements of armies and disciplined le- 
gions, there is another kind of power still. 

But, My Friends, we cannot rely upon any, nor upon all of 
these kinds of power to work out the changes which we 
long to see, and which we have assembled to promote this 
evening. For emancipating the enslaved, — for raising them 
to the condition of intelligent and happy freemen, — for des- 
troying the traffic in human flesh and filling the continent of 
Africa with holy light, we must depend upon the power of 
truth and love — the power of sanctified mind acting under 
THE GUIDANCE AND BLESSING OF GoD. The work of reforming 
the world must not be committed to passion. I have deeply 
felt that the whole subject of emancipation and colonization 
has, of late, been discussed with too little regard to the re- 
vealed purposes of God. There has been too much of pas- 
sion and policy, and human feeling and reliance upon tem- 
porary expedients. All schemes however well intended, if 
pursued regardless of the purposes and blessing of heaven, 
will prove abortive and mischievous. It is our truest wisdom 
to inquire and ascertain the designs of God and then fall in 
with these designs; so only will the work of our hands be es- 
tablished upon us. 

I have made these preliminary remarks to show that in la- 
boring for the improvement of the colored race and for the 
christianization of Africa, we are aiming at no uncertainties. 
We are laboring for things which shall be. Since the word 
of God assures us that these ends shall be gained, let it be 
our object to night, to ascertain from his word and provi- 
dence, by what means he intends to accomplish these ends, 
that we may fall in with his designs and so be co-workers 
with him, and therefore be successful. 



The scripture selected to guide us in tJiese inquiries, is 
recorded in Ezek. xxix. 9th, 15th, in connexion with 

Ps. LXVIII. 31 . 

And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste, and 
they shall know that I am the Loi'd. — It shall he the basest 
of the kingdoms ; neither shall it exalt itself any more 
above the nations, for I will diminish them that they shall 
no more ride over the riations. 

Princes shall come out of Egypt, Ethiopia shall soon 
stretch out her hands unto God. 

Feehng at liberty to pursue a range somewhat wider than 
is usual for tlie desk, I have proposed to myself two inqui- 
ries. First, What have been the dealings of God towards 
the African race in time past? Secondly. What are his 
revealed purposes respecting this race in time to come. 

Attention to our first inquiry brings to light the singular 
fact, that that nation which first of all introduced and prac- 
ticed the system of enslaving men, has been made to suffer 
most deeply and painfully the evils of slavery. 

Our text, you perceive contains two predictions concer- 
ning Egypt. One of them has been literally fulfilled ; the 
other is yet to be accomplished. Other predictions which I 
shall have occasion to quote, speak of Egypt. But let it 
be remembered that the writers of the Old Testament, de- 
signate by the term Egypt, a country vastly more extensive 
than that which in modern geography bears that name. As 
Egypt was the most powerful of the kingdoms of Africa for 
many ages ; — as it was on the llireshold of the only entrance 
to that continent known to the ancients, as its boundaries 
were changed under different dynasties and always vast and 
almost unknown, and as the surrounding countries on that 
continent were often tributary to it, we may understand the 
prophets wiien they speak of Egypt, as meaning the whole 
of Africa then known to the world. We must so under- 
stand Ezekiel in the first prediction in our text.* 

At the time this prophecy was uttered (600 years before 
Christ) Egypt or Africa was literally ruling among the na- 
tions, and was exalted above them all. She was enjoying 
her brightest day of glory and power. But she was des- 
tined to a speedy overthrow as a punishment for her sins of 
oppression. Rightly to understand the subject we must go 

* Calmet, and Edinburgh Encyc. Art. Egypt.. 



back and contemplate the dealings of God with this portion 
of our race in the light of several striking prophecies of the 
Old Testament, In Gen. jx. 24. we read that when Noah 
knew what his younger son had done unto him, He said, 
cu7'sed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his 
brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem 
and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Ja- 
pheth and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan 
shall be his servant. See now liow these predictions have 
been fulfilled. 

We learn from the tenth chapter of Gen. (verses 6 — 20,) 
that Africa was peopled by Ham and his four sons. Miz- 
raim peopled lower Egypt and the Delta of the Nile, and 
hence the Hebrew name for Egypt is Mizraim. Cush set- 
tled in upper Egypt and from him were descended the Ethio- 
pians, known in ancient history as the Nubians and Abysi- 
nians &c. Phut, the third son of Ham, peopled Lybia and 
Mauritania, embracing the country of Algiers and other wes- 
tern regions. From Canaan were descended several power- 
ful and warlike tribes, among whom were the Amalekites and 
Canaanites. Thus far the Bible sheds its holy light upon the 
origin and cliaracter of the first inhabitants of Africa after 
the flood. These several nations from the sons of Ham soon 
became powerful in numbers, arms and arts, and though un- 
der the curse of their ])rogenitor, they had for a long period 
dominion over the nations. We have all read in our school 
boy days that Agenor, an Egyptian founded the Plioeiiecian 
commonwealth and the republic of Tyre; and that Cadmus, 
the soil of Agenor founded the republic of Thebes and first 
introduced the use of letters and the art of writing into 
Greece ; and that Cecrops emigrating with an Egyptian colo- 
ny, established the Athenian state, civilized its barbarous 
hordes and planted among them the germs of all that subse- 
quently became great and valuable in Grecian history. 

Thus the descendants of Ham, at an early period came to 
occupy the front rank in the marcli of civilization and intel- 
lectual iinprovement. They were the Teachers of mankiiid. 
If we look for the origin of our own knowledge of arts and 
letters, we received it ultimately from them. More immedi- 
ately, we received it from our European ancestors ; — They 
got it from the Romans, Greeks and Jews, and they in turn 
derived it from Ethiopia and Egypt, i. e. from Africa, We 



read that Moses was learned in all the wisdom ot" the Ey^yp- 
tians and was mighty in words. Acts, vii. 22. Africa was, 
in short, the great emporium of learning. It was to Africa 
that Plato, Homer, Pythagoras and Herodotus made their 
voyages of discovery, as our literary men now make theiis to 
Germany and other European countries. But who were these 
teachers of the human race ? Herodotus, who travelled among 
them and who knew their appearance as well as we know 
that of our neighbors in Canada, says that they were black, 
having curled hair, &c. But while these early nations from 
Ham gave such ample evidence of intellectual dignity, they 
furnish equal evidence of moral degradation. Their progress 
in crime was cominensurate with their progress in arts and 
letters, thus furnishing the proof that mere learning is no ef- 
fectual restraint upon depravity. The curse of heaven whose 
execution had been so long suspended, they now began to 
feel. One part of this curse consisted in permitting these 
various nations to make war and prey upon each other. The 
first slave-holders and taskmasters that ever existed upon our 
earth, were these nations descended from Ham, Africans — 
the progenitors of those very slaves now in bondage on our 
soil. This is a notable, unquestionable fact. We read of 
these African nations buying and selling huuian beings as 
property as early as the fifth century after the flood. Joseph 
was bought of his brethren, carried into Africa and sold as 
a slave. The slave trade was then and there in existence. 
The Ishmaelites were the slave drivers, or the carriers in this 
trade. The whole tenor of the inspired history furnishes 
strong ground for supposing that they made the slave trade a 
regular business, and that Egypt was known to the world as 
a regular slave-market. The whole story of Joseph sup- 
poses this, for how else would his brethren have thought of 
selling him to the Ishmaelites. or they of buying him ? Exa- 
mine for your further satisfaction on this point the thirty sev- 
enth chapter of Genesis. 

Thus the nations of Africa, at this early period, were in 
the habit, not only of reducing each other to slavery by con- 
quest, but also, of buying as slaves the descendants of Shem 
and Japheth. It was under these nations that the chosen 
people of God groaned beneath a despotism so bitter in its 
progress and so awful in its overthrow. 

But at length a day of retribution came, and the oppressor 



8 

became in turn the oppressed. At a period when Africa 
stood forth famous in arts and arms, when the Prince who 
filled the throne boasted, as we are told by Herodotus, 
that no god could deprive him of his kingdom, — ^just 
then when it seemed that the mercies of God were poured 
out upon her mo^t profusely ; provoked by the oppression of 
his own people, and by the cries and groans of her millions of 
slaves, God sent forth his decree against her in the language 
of our text. The land of Egypt shall be desolate and 
toaste, and they shall knoiv that I am the Lord. It shall 
be the basest of the kingdoms, neither shall it exalt itself 
any more, for I will diminish them, that they shall no 
more rule among the nations. And the sivord shall come 
upon Egypt and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, — when 
they shall take away her multitude and her foundations 
shall be broken down. In that day shall messengers go 
forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians 
afraid and great pain shall come upon them. — And I ivill 
scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and ivill disperse 
them through the countries and they shall know that I am 
the Lord. Ezek. xxx. 4, 9, 26. 

How fearfully was the curse pronounced on Ham exe- 
cuted in the fulfilment of these predictions upon the nations 
descended from his loins ! Here we see the hand of God 
red with retributive justice. They who were the first clai- 
mants of property in human flesh, have been made, through 
their posterity, to drink the longest and deepest from the bit- 
ter cup which their hands introduced ! Truly has it been 
said that for more than two thousand years the annals of 
every people attest the fulfilment of these predictions respec- 
ting Africa. Conquered by the Persians, within fifty years 
after these predictions ; — conquered again by the Macedo- 
nians ; subjugated and i)illaged by the Romans and made 
the theatre of many of their bloodiest wars ; — overwhelmed 
by the Saracens ; scourged and desolated by the Mame- 
lukes ; — devastated by the Turks ; and again overrun by the 
French : For a hundred generations, Africa has been made 
the battle field of nations and the constant victim of them 
all ; and worse than all, her children for centuries have been 
swept into distant and hopeless bondage and sifted through- 
out the universe as it is this day. They have been scatter- 
ed amony: the nations and have been made the servants of 



9 

Shem and Japheth. How unsearchable are the ways of 
God ? How fearfully has he here fulfilled the threatening of 
visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children. 

But, my hearers, though prophecy is thus fulfilled, that 
lessens not in the least degree the guilt of those who have 
been the voluntary agents in perpetuating this system of hu- 
man oppression. 

History attests that from the earliest times, the nations ot 
Africa were accustomed to reduce to slavery the prisoners 
taken from eacii other in war. At what period the colored 
race began to be enslaved in foreign countries, is not quite 
certain. The Portuguese began a regular trade in negro 
slaves as early as 1481 ; eleven years before the discovery of 
this continent.* They established their first fort on the Af- 
rican coast at D'Elniina. The other European nations, ob- 
serving this traffic to be a source of wealth and luxury, soon 
followed the example of the Portuguese. Attracted by the 
luxuries of European commerce, the African chiefs soon 
came to make war their regular profession, for the sake of 
obtaining prisoners for the European traders. 

But the discovery of this new world was an evil day to 
the ill fated descendants of Ham. The first adventurers to 
this continent and to the islands along the Atlantic coast 
were Spaniards. They found the Indian race existing here, 
and in their grasping covetousness, without the least remorse, 
they reduced them to a bondage so monstrous, that in the is- 
land of Hispaniola alone, from the year 1508 to 1517, the 
Indians were reduced by the brutal oppression under which 
they groaned, from 60,000 to 14,000 souls.f Some remon- 
strances were raised at home against this horrid oppression. 
But the plea of necessity was raised. It was urged that Eu- 
ropean constitutions could not stand the climate of the new 
world under severe labor ; — that the Indians were accustom- 
ed to it ; that the treasures of gold and silver must be had, 
&.C. Thus, then as now, this miserable pretence of necessi- 
ty was urged and this justified the deed. Accordingly it was 
sanctioned by a formal decree of the King of Spain in these 
words, "That the servitude of the Indians was warranted by 
the laws both of God and man." 



* Edinburgh Encyc. Art. Slave trade. 

\ African Rep. Aug. 1 831 , Hfldress of R. J. Brtckeiiridgp. 



13 

While the aborigines were thus fading away under the op- 
pression of Spanish task-masters, a new plan was formed be- 
nevolently designed to relieve them. •■ This project was 
oriarinated by one Bartholornide Las Casas. a priest of Chia- 
pa. He. in connexion with a little band of ecclesiastics, 
who still recognized the obligatioiiS of justice and humanity 
toward the Indians, proposed to the Spanish Court that they 
should liberate the Indians and introduce from Africa, ne- 
groes, who. he said, could be obtained for a small sum and 
were better fitted for endurance under hard labor. Las 
Casas and his associates persevered in this, until Africans 
were introduced : but. alas I the Indians were not set free. 
He had the misfortune to see the chains of bondage rivetted 
on both these races of men."' In the year loll, Ferdinand 
permitted the importation of negroes in large numbers and 
in subsequent reigns this inhuman tratlic was carried on to a 
still more fearful extent. Such was the beginning of negro 
slavery in this western hemisphere. 

On the settlement of the Xorth American Colonies, slaves 
were introduced into the territory of the L nited States. In 
the year 16-20. a Dutch vessel from the coast of Guinea 
brought into James River and to the colony at Jamestown, 
twenty Africans, which were immediately purchased as 
slaves ; and that the whole business might be transacted in 
the sacred name of religion, an ordinance was passed. •• that 
all heathen persons might be lawfully held as slaves, and that 
their descendants although christians, might be continued in 
slavery." Such was the beginning of slavery in the L nited 
States ; — Such, the first settlement among us of an oppres- 
sed and suffering race, which by its natural increase and by 
continual importation has augmented, in two hundred and 
twenty years, to more than three millions of souls.* 

Many millions more are in bondage among other nations. 
It is estimated that fifteen millions liave been torn from their 
country since this inhuman traffic first began under the dark- 
ness of romanism and the sanction of the pope. More than 
three hundred years the traffic has been continued by nomi- 
nally christian governments both Protestant and Catholic. 

* African Repositorv Aug. 1-31, p. 166. 



11 

'Loud and perpetual o'er the Atlantic wares, 
* For guilty ages rolled the tide of slaves, 
' A tide that knew no ftJl, no turn, no rest, 
' Constant as day and night, from east to west, 
' Still widening, deepening, swelling in its course, 
' With boundless ruin and resistless force.* 

But thanks be to God, that Humanity may turn to the fu- 
ture and relieve her tearful eye and aching heart, by contem- 
plating the vision opened to us in the other portion of our 
text. Princes shall come out of Egypt : Ethiopia shall 
soon stretch out her hands unto God. Whether the inspired 
author of this passage had any distinct reference to the en- 
slavement and subsequent restoration of the African race, 
may well be questioned. But one thing is plain : The chris- 
tianization of this race, is made in the scriptures, a distinct 
subject of prophecy. This is specifically taught in many 
places. The removal of all associated evils is implied. 

Ethiopia shall sooii stretch out her haiids unto God, i. e. 
shall betx>nie a reliafious people. The kings of She' a and 
Seba shall offer gifts. From beyond the rivers of Ethio- 
pia, my suppliants, the daughter of my dispersed, shall 
bring my offering. Oppressors shall be removed out of 
the earth. God icill biing out those that are bound with 
chaijis. Every yoke shall be broken and the oppressed 
shall go free. For the oppression of the poor: — for the 
sighs of the needy, will I arise saith the Lord. 

We are clearly taught in these and similar passages, 

1. That the enslaved shall be set free. 

•2. That the traffic in human beings shall be abolished, and 

3. That Africa shall be brought home to God. 
These are already facts in the purposes of heaven : soon 
thev shall be facts in the history of the earth. God reigns. 
Hath he spoken and shall he not do it : 

Now, every thing appears dark. When we look at torn, 
afflicted and bleeding Africa, and then upon her children, 
remorselessly scattered to the four winds of heaven, there 
lies before us a sea of gloom. But beyond this gloom, there 
is an ocean of light : and He. who opened a passage through 
the Sea of old to set his people free, can roll back this sea of 
darkness, and lead forth the oppressed and ignorant to the 
light and liberty of his children. — and he will do it. The 
predicted and certain reign of Christianity over Ethiopia, in- 



12 

volves the dostruction of slavery and the slave trade. Here 
are three great facts infallibly to be realised. The enslaved 
shall be liberated. The traffic in human flesh shall cease 
and Africa shall be disenthraled, redeemed and brought 
home to God. 

When these ends will be gained I cannot tell. The indi- 
cations of providence show that they are near. The entire 
christian world has awaked to the sufierings and claims of 
the colored race. The progress of truth and humanity in 
their behalf, has been rapid during the last thirty years; and 
every year; nay, every month is giving a new impulse to this 
humanity and truth. The cry for justice to be rendered to 
this injured race is going forth from a thousand presses, from 
ten thousand pulpits and from ten thousand times ten thou- 
sand voices. Never, perhaps, since the earth began to roll, 
were the feelings of the civilized world so united and direc- 
ted towards the removal of any one evil. Much has been 
already gained, as we see by a backward glance. It is but 
half a century since it was gravely debated in the British 
Parliament whether the negroes had souls ; — since christian 
governments argued from the Bible, especially from Lev. xxv. 
44, 47, that it was right to enslave all heathens, and since 
christian men were personally engaged in the slave trade. 

How these ends will be gained is a question of easier solu- 
tion. Undoubtedly they will be gained by the power of the 
gospel and gospel means, under the superintending provi- 
dence of God. We firmly believe that these three ends will 
be accomplished together ; — That whatever opens the heart 
of the intelligent christian to feel for the slave, will make 
him feel also for the slave's country and for his kindred ; — 
that whatever measures have a right bearing upon one of 
these objects, will bear benignly upon the other two. Hence 
I believe that action of the 7'ight kind is needed in both the 
directions intended by the two great national societies. 
Therefore ' Judah should not vex Ephraim, nor Ephraim 
Judah. 

Regarding these ends as infallibly to be attained, under 
the providence of God, it becomes an important question, 
By what means will God bring about the overthrow of slave- 
ry, the destruction of the slave-trade and the christianization 
of Africa? If we can judge or know by what means God 
will act, we shall know our duty, and be prepared to act in 



13 

accordance with his will, and therefore successfully. We 
should be as anxious to use the right means as to gain the 
desired ends. Mere passion will not reform the world ; — nor 
will the'^spirit of denunciation ; nor that temper which sees an 
enemy in every spirit diflering from itself, or which resolves 
that every thing unlike itself is useless and wicked ; nor will 
political power or commercial enterprise remove the evils in 
question, ^though these last appliances will, doubtless, be used 
as auxiliaries. How then, is it likely, that the ends before 
us will be gained ? 

1. How can slavery he abolished from this country 1 In 
answering this question we must take things just as they are. 
We have on our soil 2,500,000 slaves. They are cliimed 
and held as property by men born and reared among slaves, 
who have never known any other state of society, — by men 
who have been taught from childhood the necessity and pro- 
priety of this relation, and who have associated it with all 
whom they revere. Such men cannot look upon slavery 
with the same eye and conscience as ourselves. And be- 
sides, the constitution secures to them the right of property 
in their slaves ; and what is constitutional, they have almost 
persuaded themselves is right. Now the question is, how 
shall men in this state of mind and conscience be brought to 
abolish slavery ? 

There are but three ways possible in whicli slavery can 
ever be abolished from this land. First. It must be the 
work of the slaves themselves by insurrection and massacre ; 
or secondly, It must be done by the involuntary act of the 
master, he being compelled lo it by foreign force or the pow- 
er of law ; or thirdly, It must bo the voluntary act of the 
master. In the first case emancipation results from conspi- 
racy and blood shed. In the second, from the power of law 
or foreign force. In the third, from a sense of duty, or the 
conviction of expediency. No other plan can be devised 
that will not resolve itself into one of these. 

Do any desire to see slavery abohshed by the first method, 
i. e. by conspiracy and murder? Before answering this 
question, go back to the scenes of St. Domingo, or to those 
of Southampton Va. in 1831. Imagine a beautiful tract of 
country, as large as your own township, made desolate and 
stained with the blood of its inhabitants in a single hour. 
Bring the case home to your own heart and fireside. Ima- 



14 

gine a gang of 300 slaves, — armed with muskets, scythes 
and clubs, led on by a crisp-haired, fanatical prophet, and 
infuriated by ardent spirits, rushing into your dwelling at 
dead of night, murdering yourself, — your wife, children and 
helpless babes, and piling their mangled bodies in heaps upon 
the bloody floor ; then rushing with the fury of fiends to the 
next dwelling to repeat the scene, and so on, till hundreds 
and thousands are thus murdered. Monster's mny he found, 
but not men, willing to see slavery abolished in this way. 

Knowing as I do, the state of things at the south I have 
every reason to believe and fear that these scenes of horror 
will be repeated, if slave-holders and legislators do not move 
upon the subject, but I pray God to avert them. — That the 
slaves of the south or of any one state will ever succeed in 
gaining their freedom in this way, is beyond all probability. 
It is scarcely possible for a general conspiracy throughout a 
single state to be formed and brought to maturity without 
detection. If it were, it is hardly possible that the slaves 
could provide themselves with arms, or assemble in sufficient 
numbers to cope with their masters and with their attached 
servants who would always side with their masters. They 
might, as at Southampton, consume, throughout a county, 
the dwellings, lay waste the fields and sacrifice by midnight 
assassination, hundreds of women and children : Further 
than this they could not go. Their progress would be stayed. 
Instead of regaining liberty, they would become the subjects 
of the most terrible retribution and perhaps in the heat of 
revengeful passion, be exterminated. We see then that the 
first of our three methods of emancipation is out of the ques- 
tion. It is exceedingly undesirable. It is improbable. It 
is morally impossible. 

2. A second method of emancipation is by the involunta- 
ry act of the slave-holders, they being compelled to it, by 
law or by some external force. 

It was by this method exactly that slavery was recently 
abolished in the British West Indies, i. e. setting the slaves 
free, was the involuntary act of the owners, they being com- 
pelled to it by a power above and beyond themselves, by Par- 
liament. But we (in the United States) can never abolish 
slavery, directly in this way. The two cases are entirely 
different. The West Indies are a British Province. The 
Crown and Parliament have absolute control over this Prov- 



15 

ince. Their will is law and was always acknowledged to be 
law. Bat the case is not so with us ; our Congress has no 
such control over any of our slave states. As to slavery and 
other internal matters, those states claim to be, and are ac- 
knowledged even by us, to be as sovereign and independent 
of congress as Cuba or Texas. They are so in fact. How 
then can slavery ever be abolished here as it was in the West 
Indies, by the involuntary act of slave-holders, they being 
compelled to it by a force out of themselves? Who can 
compel them ? Congress cannot. Anti-slavery societies can- 
not. Agitation, threats and denunciation cannot. No hu- 
man power can compel them, short of an army planting itselt 
upon their soil and demanding liberty for the captive at the 
print of the bayonet. This, our second method of emanci- 
pation is, then, out of the question. Congress, we believe, 
can, and ought to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, 
and also the domestic slave-trade. We ought to petition 
them to do it, and pray God to incline them to do it — and 
send men there by our votes who will help them to do it, at 
once, and leave the issue with God. 

3. We come now to our third and only remaining method of 
abolishing slavery, i. e. by the voluntary act of the slave-hol- 
ders themselves ; this act resulting from the convictions of 
duty or expediency. This I have no doubt is the way of 
God ; — the most desirable way ; the way that is the most full 
of promise to the slave, to the country and to Africa; and 
in present circumstances, the only way. 

Slavery must be abolished by the voluntary act of slave- 
holders. They must be made willing to let the oppressed 
go free. They are not now willing, — not as willing as they 
were ten years ago. Generally, their wills have been aroused 
and set like adamant, with the intent of resisting foreign in- 
terference. The mild tones in which their consciences then 
began to remonstrate, have been hushed and overwhelmed in 
a storm of passion. Yet God can, and, I believe, will over- 
rule all that has been done with good motive, for awakening 
the public ear at the south to hear, and the public mind to 
reflect, and the public conscience to feel and act ihrough a 
more humane legislation. Threats, denunciation and hard 
names will not make slave-holders willing to emancipate. 
They must be moved by christian truth and love, and per- 
suasive argument. 1 have confidence in the power of truth, 



wielded by sanctified mind, to reform abuses, and in the pro- 
mises of God, that he will attend it by his Spirit. Some of 
us, at the north, began wrong. Such must retrace their 
steps and become possessed of another spirit. We must re- 
gard the gospel as capable of producing the results, for which 
it was given, and use it accordingly with faith and patience. 

Let us suppose a community, on one of our beautiful Is- 
lands in LakeChamplain, to have been so insulated as not to 
know any thing of the temperance movement of the last 
twelve years. That community are still involved in all the 
evils and excesses of intemperance. Their minister, we will 
suppose, owns a distilery, and his deacon (a second deacon 
Giles) ' works it.' How shall we bring that church and 
commu!5ity to right views and to right jnactice ? Shall we 
begin wltli caliiiig ihem drunkards, and then pass resolutions 
that their minister shall not preach in our pulpits, nor their 
christians come to our communion tables.' No, my friends. 
We should do no such thing. We would go and convince 
them of the truth : or, we would write them a kind letter, 
which, if possible, should breathe the very spirit of the Saviour. 
We would acknowledge our own former sins in the matter of 
intemperance and assure them how much we have been 
benefitted by the change. We would present in a courteous 
and christian manner, truths, facts and principles which 
would commend themselves to their consciences. If the 
members of that church are christians, we should do them 
good and through them act on the whole Island. 

So we ought to connnence with southern christians. So 
we may now commence. Let individuals, or if they please, 
let our Ecclesiastical Bodies of every name engage in a kind 
and fraternal correspondence with their corresponding bo- 
dies at the south. Let it be a correspondence, not of dicta- 
tion and reproof, but of inquiry, of afiectionate entreaty and 
earnest persuasion only — and from my own knowledge of 
southern christians, I feel assured that they would hear us 
even now. 

When the churches have been leavened, the rest of the 
southern community will through them feel the power of 
their sentiments. These great moral truths belonging to 
this subject will spread, will pervade the country ; and, spo- 
ken in love, ' they will accomplish that whereunto they are 
Bent.' 



17 

Our next and only remaining inquiries are, How shall the 
slave-trade be suppressed and the hundred millions of Afri- 
ca be christianized and led to the habits of civilized life ? 

I shall consider these two objects in connexion. Tliey ob- 
viously will be accomplished together, and by human instru- 
mentality. 

Princes ivill not come out of Egypt, to bring their offer- 
ings unto Christ ; nor will the children of Ethiopia stretch 
out their hands unto God, till they have ceased to stretch 
them out against each other in acts of murder and oppres- 
sion. Heathenism and the slave trade in Africa must pass 
away together, — and be removed by the same power of truth 
proclaimed both by the living nussionary, and by the presence 
and rousmg influence of christian colonies. Every en- 
larged and philanthropic mind will encircle both these objects 
in its benevolent embrace, and be willing to act through the 
channels God has opened, for the elevation of the whole col- 
ored race. 

Suppose we were to confine all our attention to the abolition 
of slavery in this land, and should perfectly succeed, we 
should scarcely diminish the amount of suffering and of op- 
pression, while Africa itself is neglected ; — for the murderous 
warfare and the accursed traffic would go on, and avarice 
and inhumanity would find a market for all their victims else- 
where, among pagans, Mahometans and the nations blinded 
and perverted by a spurious Christianity. He who doubts 
this must be ignorant of human de[)ravity, and blind to the 
unchanging course of human affairs. Abolishing slavery in 
protestant countries will not stop the slave trade. For this 
opinion I give you the authority of one whose judgment 
ought to have weight in a certain quarter, where colonization 
of late, has found but little favor. I refer to Mr. Thomas 
Fowell Buxton, — the leading abolitionist of England, both 
in and out of Parliament.* Emancipation has been going on 

* Note. Great pains have been taken by leading abolitionists in this 
country, to make the impressionlhat Mr. Buxton is an uncompromising op- 
ponent to the colonization scheme. Such impressions are contrary to fact, 
and are unjust to Mr. Buxton. 

It is trup that a few years ag-o Mr. B. was induced to sign a protest, design- 
ed to oppos.^ tiie Am. Col. Sjciety. EulSIr. B. has recently written a book 
on the slave trade, which, virtually sanctions all the leading principles 
and plans of the Am. Col. Society. He aims to convince the world that 
the slave trade can never be abolished by the expedients hitherto adopted, — 
that it must be done bv planting christian colonies and establishing com- 
3 



18 ^ 

in the West Indies, and in the United States, and in other 
quarters — for the last thirty years ; — and public sentiment 
has been as constantly maturing and gathering strength 
against slavery and the whole system of iniquity. But has 
the slave trade declined ? Let Mr. Buxton answer. 

" It has been proved by documents which cannot be con- 
troverted, that for every cargo of slaves shipped towards the 
end of the last century, two cargoes, or twice the numbers 
in one cargo, wedged together in a mass of living corruption, 
are now borne on the waves of the Atlantic ; and that the 
cruelties and horrors of the traffic have been increased and 
aggravated hy the, very efforts ive have made for its abolition. 
Each individual has more to endure ; aggravated suffering 
reaches multiplied numbers. At the time I am writing, there 
are at least twenty thousand human beings on the Atlantic, 
exposed to every variety of wretchedness which belongs to 
the midcile passage .... I am driven to the sorrowful convic- 

mercial relations, — that Africa must become the school of her own educa- 
tion, — and that her own children must be employed as the agents in pro- 
moting her civilization. Thus he confesses to some of the leading princi- 
ples of our Society. 

If Mr. Buxton is wholly opposed to the colonization principle, why did 
his American Anti Slavery Editors and publishers leave out the whole of 
the Second Part of his work, containing the very purpose of the v/ork — 
which is, to show that the only way to suppress the slave trade, is by pur- 
chasing territory in Africa, planting colonies and establishing commerce 
with the native tribes, and thus bring them to see how much more valua- 
ble man is as a laborer on the soil than as an article of merchandise .'' 

But let us look a little further for Mr. Buxton's real sentiment about col- 
onization. The plan to which his book has given rise in England, is as fol- 
lows. It consists of three parts. The first is purely missionary, and aims 
to establish schools and religious institutions, &c. 

The second department is an agricultural and commercial company, for 
opening plantations and establishing trade on the coast and in the interior — 
to induce the natives to abandon tlie trafllc in slaves, &c. 

The third part of this plan, to be executed by government, proposes the 
purchasing and settling tracts of country suited for agricultural and com- 
mercial purposes. But as Mr. B. considers it a "hopeless task to render 
Africa a salubrious residence for European constitutions," the agents for 
executing this part of the plan are to be, in part at least, colored persons. 
Accordingly a large number of pious negroes in the West Indies, are now 
receiving an education preparatory for this service. These free persons of 
color are to be removed, (with their own consent, I suppose) to Africa, 
i. e. colonized. The Society for carrying into effect this whole plan with- 
the aid of government — is called " The Society for the extinction of the 
slave trade and for the civilization of Africa, instituted, June 1839." Mr. 
Buxton is the chairman of its provisional conimittee. — Does this look like 
ojiposition to the colonization Rchome .'' Are not these British philanthro- 
pists aiming at the same ends, with ourselves and by similar means ? — ^only 
superadding to other motives, that of securing the whole commerce of Af- 
rica to their own government ? 



19 

tion, that the year from September, 1837, to September, 
1838, is distinguished from all preceding years for the extent 
of the trade, for the intensity of its miseries, and for the unu- 
sual havoc it makes of human life." 

"It will avail little that ninety nine doors are closed, if 
one remains oj)en. To that single outlet the whole slave 
trade of Africa will rushy 

Another plan for suppressing the slave trade, is, to bring 
all nations to declare it piracy and punish all participators in 
it accordingly. This is the plan on which all christian go- 
vernments have been acting for the last quarter of a century. 
But will this plan succeed? I refer you again to Mr. Bux- 
ton. He has probably bestowed more time and thought up- 
on the subject of the slave trade, than any other man now 
living, and has lately published to the world his discojeries 
and the remedy. He endorses, unintentionally, all the essen- 
tial principles and plans of the American Colonization Socie- 
ty — He says that " colored men must be the agents employed 
in civilizing Africa," that christian and commercial colonies, 
planted along and around her coast, are the only means of 
suppressing the slave trade. — He says " our present system 
has not failed by misclianee, from want of energy, or from 
want of expenditure ; but the system itself is erroneous, and 
must necessai-ily he attended with disap}^ ointment. We 
will suppose all nations shall have acceded to the Spanish 
treaty, and that treaty shall have been rendered more effec- 
tive ; that they shall have linked to it the article of piracy ; 
that the whole shall have been clcnciied by the cordial con- 
currence of the authorities at home, and of the populace in 
the colored colonies ; with all this, we shall be once more de- 
feated and baffled hy a contraband trade. The power which 
will overcome our efforts, is the extraordinary profits of the 
slave trader. But we shall never get the consent of the pow- 
ers to the Spanish treaty. This confederacy must be uni- 
versally binding, or it is of no avail." 

He declares it his opinion, that this trade is carried on 
more extensively than it was before the Spanish treaty ; and 
that the hearty union of all christian nations, in good faith, 
would be unavailable to suppress it. He maintains his posi- 
tions by the. following argument. He assumes the axiom of 
the custom house, viz. that no trade can be suppressed by 
authority, when the profits of that trade exceed thirty per 
cent. He shows that the profits of the slave trade are more 



20 

\ha.n Jive times that amount, after deducting all the risks, los- 
ses and forfeitures occasioned by the action of law against 
it. Conseqaently, the risks will be encountered, and the 
market supplied ; and the means adopted for the evasion of 
law, and of public vessels engiiged for the suppression of the 
trade, lead to the most astounding inhumanities and sacrifice 
of human life. The profits are abundant, if the lives of one 
halfo( the victims crammed on board these vessels are saved !* 
Under suc!i circinnstances the trade will go on, in spite of all 
the means hitherto used to supi^ress it. 

But this trade is to be abolished, and Africa is again to 
come under the dominion ot Jesus Christ ; and I firmly be- 
lieve that the principle of Colonization is to be a main in- 
strumentality in accomplishing these ends ; — that God intends 
to enlighten lier dark tribes, by settling her own civilized 
and christianized children all around her coast. I am 
therefore a warm friend of tlie American Colonization 
Society. T regard it with substantially the same feelings that 
I do the American Board. I would not dare to oppose its 
doings, lest I should be found fighting agaip.st God. Whe- 
ther I look at its principles, or at the results it has already 
achieved, I cannot resist the conviction that it is to be a pow- 
erful means of elevating the colored race. 

First, look at its principles. I am constrained to believe 
that it was founded in wisdom, justice and humanity. It was 
not, in its inception, a project of slave holders, to render the 
system of slavery more secure. The plan was proposed and 
advocated, (long before Mr. Jefferson brought it forward) by 
Granville Sharp, Clarkson, Wilberforce and a free colored 
man of this country .f That southren men have patronized 
our Society from wrong motives, I have no doubt. No doubt 
it has been advocated by agents at the north, as promising to 
do, what it was never designed to do. No doubt its con- 
cerns have been, in some instances, unskilfully managed. 
These things are to be regretted. But has the Society pro- 
posed a good work ? And is it doing the work proposed ? 

* The reader who lias not access to Mr. Buxton's book, will find a more 
extended view of this argument, in a pamphlet, entitled, ' Colonization and 
Abolition contrasted,' published by H. Hooker, Philadelphia, from which 
the above outline is quoted. 

1 The followin^T is the testimony of Dr. Hodgkin, of London, a leading 
anti-slavery gentleman, who has the candor to appreciate the motives and 
labors of our Society. Thomas Hodgkin, M. D. is a member of the Socie- 
ty of Friends. He is one of the executive committee of Mr. Buxton's Af- 



•21 

If so, it must command your approbation and patronage. We 
see from the second article of its constitution, that 'the object 
to which its attention is to be primarily directed, is, to pro- 
mote and execute a plan for colonizing, with their own con- 
sent, the free people of color in our country, in Africa or 
such other place as Congress may deem expedient.' The ul- 
timate benevolent ends, the Society aims to accomplish are 
the following. I quote from its publications. 

1. The society aims to rescue the free colored people of 
the United States from their political and social disadvanta- 
ges and place them in a country wiiere they can enjoy the 
blessings of a free government and feel the force of those 
great moral motives which form the characters of other men. 

2. To arrest and destroy the slave trade. 

3. To spread civilization and Christianity throughout the 
continent of Africa, and 

4. To afford slave holders, who are wilhng to liberate their 
slaves, an assylum for their reception. 



rican 



..^,... civilization Society. He has been holding a particular correspon- 
dence with our colonists in Liberia and with naval officers, who have spent 
much time there. The result of the whole, is, that he sits down and 
writes a long letter addressed " to the American Delegates to the Anti- 
Slavcry Convention, held in London, in the Gth month 1840." And what, 
o-entle reader, does he say to the American Delegates .? Does he say, go on 
and oppose the Am. Cgl. Society .^ No. On the contrary he says. Gentle- 
man, I appreciate your zeal as abolitionists, but you are all wrong in your 
opposition to colonization. You shall have his own words. 

To the. Americun Delegates to the £ntl-Sl<iverij Conrerdlon, held in London 
Gth month, 1840. ' 

Respected Friends, 

The idea of colonizing individuals either wholly or partially of African 
origin, upon the coast of Africa, is not an idea originating with those whom 
you regard as your opponents, but was proposed and advocated, before the 
Colonization Society existed, by Granville Sharp, Clarkson, several mem- 
bers of the Society of Friends, by Paul CufFee himself, a free American 
black, and many others. Some reasons, it is true, have been adduced in 
favor 'of the plan, with which I do not concur, more especially, that which 
seems to withhold from the colored man the right to remain and ^-njoy ev- 
ery privilege accessible toman in America; but 1 regard this colonization 
of Americ^an colored people as recominendable on every principle which 
makes it desirable for Europeans to emigrate to America, South Africa, or 
New Zealand, namely, the prospect of bettering their condition, and tur- 
ning to present and future advantage, all tlie resources which they may 
happen to possess. These reasons must apply with peculiar force to the 
colored man in America, until you shall have removed legal barriers, and 
annihilated the prejadice against color. _ 

Why have the American Delegates said nothing about Dr. Hodgkin s 
letter and accompanying documents respecting Liberia ? See Dr. H.'s let- 
ter at length in the Vermont Chronicle, Oct. 14, 1840. 



22 

All these ends are good and benevolent. The only ques- 
tion is, Is the scheme of colonization adapted to attain 
them ? 

That the colored peoj^le of this country do labor under 
great political and social disadvantages, here, is admitted by 
all. Let prejudice be dispelled and let our laws become as 
favorable as any could wisii, opening to the colored man all 
the avenues of honor and Jiope, the disadvantages will still 
be felr. We should still prefer a white man for the legisla- 
ture, f >r congress, for the pulpit, the bench, the school loom 
and for our physician. I vv^ouid do all that can be done to 
elevate the colored man in this country, but after all, these 
disadvantages will remain. The v/hites will monopolize the 
highest places. — Nov*', our Society ain;s to free our colored 
people from these disadvantages, and place them where they 
shall be exempt from this depressing rivalship ; — where all the 
honois winch white men take from them here, shall be se- 
cured to them and denied to the white man. This is j)recise- 
ly the plan of our colony. By its laws, white men are for- 
bidden to reside in it except for temporary and specific pur- 
poses. Honors, titles, profits of trade, which, in a mixed 
community, have always been monopolized by the whites, are 
in Liberia, secured to the colored people. They are there 
placed fully under those rousing and awakening influences 
which are necessary to form a cliaracter for enterprize and 
independence. 

But secondly, Do the operations of our Society tend to 
destroy the slave trade ? This trade has confessedly been 
destroyed on 300 miles of the western coast. From this 
coast formerly more than two thousand slaves were annually 
shipped ; now not one. The last factory on this coast has 
been destroyed. Our Society is doing, the very things which 
Mr. Buxton proposes as the only remedy for this evil. Dr. 
Hodgkin, one of Mr. Buxton's philantliropic associates, and 
a leading anti-slavery man, bears the following testimony res- 
pecting the influence of our Society, both in elevating the 
colored race and in suppressing the slave trade. In his let- 
ter 'to the American Delegates' to the World's Convention, 
he says. "I see the Society, (the Am. Col. Society) which 
you have proclaimed to be dead or dying, but which, at other 
times, you represent as a terrible monster struggling but not 
discouraged, gaining advocates, receiving subscriptions, and 
in spite of the financial difficulties of the country, extricating 



•23 

itself from debt, and carrying on its great work with steadily 
advancing prosperit)-. I see in its interesting publications the 
abundant records of facts and sentiments calculated to raise 
the colored man to the estimation of himself and of his fel- 
low-men, passages, which it would benefit your cause to quote 
and circulate. Turning my eyes to Liberia, I lind the ac- 
counts of slave factories broken up, of missions settled, of 
schools established, of native children received for instruc- 
tion, of peace mediated between contending tribes. I hear 
from British naval officers and merchant captains, that the 
people and government of Liberia are opposed to the slave 
trade, and ofTer an important check to its operations. With 
such accumulated evidence in favor of the colony, I cannot 
doubt its advantages, nor cease to wish it well," 

To our own colony and its influence in suppressing this 
traffic. Dr. Hodgkin pays the following handsome tribute. 
"Even at Sierra Leone, a much older and powerful settle- 
ment than those of Liberia, — in spite of a larger white pop- 
ulation and of a British garrison and numerous cruisers, oc- 
currences of the kind (i. e. forging fetters and abetting the 
slave trade) it is to be feared, are more frequent than on the 
coast of Liberia.''^* Let then the nations of Christendom 
encircle Africa with a belt of such colonies, and this horrid 
traffic will cease forever. 

That colonization is to be an important means for chris- 
tianizing the hundred millions of Ethiopia, cannot be doubted 
by any who note attentively God's providential movements. 

And finally, our Society furnishes to slave holders who 
are willing to liberate their slaves, an assyhmi for their 
reception. Moreover it holds up perpetually before the 
mind of the slave holder, a republic of free, enterprising co- 
lored men, and thus shows him that he is not enslaving an in- 
ferior and soul-less creature as the one supposed, but an 
immortal being like himself, possessing the same attributes 
susceptible of the same intellectual and moral elevation. In 
this way as well as by the facts and light it spreads abroad — 
our Society is indirectly promoting the cause of universal 
emancipation. f 

* See Dr. Hodgkin's letter, in Vt. Chronicle of Oct. 14, 1640. 

t I do not suppose that the Col. Society alone will ever remove slavery 
from this land. I never did suppose this. I do not advocate the Society on 
this ground. Therefore a remark on p. 28 of my Discourse before the Vt. 
Col. Society in 1632, has been misunderstood by many of my abolition 
friends. I spoke of what our governmenf might do. 



24 

Such are the principles and aims and tendencies of the 
Society whose cause we plead to night. I believe our Socie- 
ty destined to become a mighty instrument in the hand of God 
for elevating the colored race, — for destroying the accursed 
traffic in human fiesh and blood and for diffusing that gospel 
which shall cause Ethio})ia to awake from her miseries and 
stretch out her hands to God. Do any of you still doubt ? 
Go with me and take your stand upon the rocky cliff" of cape 
Mesurado, and tell me what do you see ? You see a repub- 
lic of free and happy men, extending their jurisdiction over 
a country nearly as large as our own state. — You see the 
foundations of a vast empire. There are four colonies and 
twelve flourishing settlements. There, where eighteen years 
ago was heard the savage yell and the sound of the slaver's 
hammer rivetting the chains upon his victim, you now hear 
the song of praise to God, and the cheerful soimds of volun- 
tary industry. — There are christian civilization and a govern- 
ment of law, churches and schools and all the marks of a 
thriving state. Already has the fair scene before you began 
to be the radiating point of science, civilization and Christiani- 
ty to Africa. What you behold is no empty vision. It is 
reality. Can any man, in whom humanity is not extinct, op- 
pose the society that has, under God, produced this reality or 
seek to impede its progress ? Will he, who has never lighted 
up one fire along the savage clilfs of Ethiopia, — will he try 
to extinguish the heaven born flames which have been kindled 
by the benevolence of others and which every hour are bur- 
ning brighter and brighter, and attracting the eye of thousands 
who never saw light before ? God forbid that any should be 
so lost to humanity and shame. My friends, The American 
Colonization Society is ciititled to your strongest confidence, 
your personal influence, your fervent prayers and your liberal 
contributions. God has approved and protected it. For years 
it has been in the flames, but like the burning bush it has not 
been consumed. Nor shall it be. God will protect it and to 
him shall be the glory of its achievements. 

Amkn. 



54 W 












5-^ ^ 









A .^ 










^'*:^^%"- .//^liX co^c^.•^-o . 







A^^ 

;* .4.^ % 


















6^"^ v^ 






ail'^x. 







.4o<. 















%<^' 



'•^^<i^ 






iPv\ 










P' ♦'^ 



4."-^^^ V 
0*5 ^^/*^.^'\^"«-'' 



.^<^^ 











V^^^^"" \'^-\<^ ^^'^^o^'^ % 




-s». • • » • 



